This week, the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners is sponsoring International Fraud Awareness Week, and Wells Fargo is proud to support this effort. Now is a great time to brush up on your awareness in detecting and preventing fraud, and learning more about the steps Wells Fargo takes to protect you and your accounts from suspicious activity.

Fraud is more than just having your debit or credit card number stolen. People steal your personal information—like your social security number, date of birth, or address—and use your identity to apply for loans and credit cards, use your health insurance, and more. And fraudsters are now using social media to get this information.

Here are some tips to stay safe online:

Use multiple passwords. Don’t use the same password for your online banking that you use for anything else. And remember to not to use easily guessed passwords—use symbols and numbers to make your password harder to guess or engineer. Many fraudsters use software to test thousands of passwords to hack accounts, and complicated ones are harder to crack.

Enable two-step verification. Gmail, Facebook, Twitter, and Apple iCloud all offer a double layer of protection on your accounts so logins from unknown devices require a second password that is texted to you. This extra layer of security prevents others from accessing your personal information without access to your phone.

Limit the amount of personal information you post. Be especially guarded with your address or information about your schedule or routine. And make sure you monitor what your connections post about you.

Evaluate your settings. Sites like Facebook change their privacy options, so review your security and privacy settings regularly. To be safe, in case settings change unexpectedly, don’t post anything that you wouldn’t want the public to see.

Be wary of third-party applications. Use caution when deciding which applications to enable and, when possible, limit the amount of information the applications can access. Think about third party applications that connect using your Facebook or Twitter account for an easier registration and login—make sure you only enable ones with companies you know and trust.

Be on the lookout for imposter fraud in social media. Be very cautious about connecting with people you don’t know or recognize. Fraudsters create fake personas and try to connect with multiple people from one organization—like your high school or college—so they look like a mutual acquaintance. Then, once you’re connected, this person sends malicious links through e-mail, chat, videos or a direct message. If you click it, your device will likely be compromised and that imposter now has access to more easily hack into your accounts and files.

Wells Fargo is always working to help protect you and your accounts from fraudulent activity. In an effort to help prevent fraud, we continually monitor cardholder accounts for unusual patterns and activity, and if we believe the security of a debit card or credit card is at risk, we take actions to help safeguard your account. You should also know that Wells Fargo Credit Cards and Debit Cards are protected by Zero Liability. This means if a Wells Fargo Credit Card or Debit Card or its card number is ever lost, stolen or used without cardholder authorization and the cardholder provides us with prompt notification, a cardholder will not be held liable for any unauthorized transactions made at merchants, over the phone, on the Internet or at the ATM. (Refer to the applicable Wells Fargo account agreement for information on liability for unauthorized use.)

Be sure to follow Wells Fargo on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ where we share tips for helping to protect yourself against fraud, and visit our Fraud Information Center to learn more about common scams. The more precautions you take, and the more awareness you have of these scams, the safer you, your identity and your money will be from fraudulent attempts.

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